June 6, 2014

Will The GAMBIT Movie Be The First Time Channing Tatum Plays The Ragin' Cajun?

Although we've heard Bryan Singer admitting his desire to include Gambit in X-Men Days of Future Past and the in-development X-Men Apocalypse, recent quotes from Channing Tatum could mean Singer won't get his wish. While speaking with MTV, Tatum gives the impressive he's looking to play Remy in the standalone Gambit film before any X-Men installments. A great way to bolster his commitment to the character, pushing for the solo feature first.

“We’ve talked about it being a standalone, first, and actually trying to change the ‘hero, superhero movie.’ Because Gambit is not your typical hero. He’s a thief. He walks on the gray. I’m hoping we can change it a little bit, and then ultimately feather into the other ones.”

The events of Days of Future Past has made the future of the present day X-Men unknown, along characters stuck in a timeline gray-area such as Gambit. Singer, Kinberg and Shuler Donner could really go any route they want with the character. However, if they are going to consider Origins a bit of a blueprint, we'll see Remy living a pre-X-Men life in the 1980's. That decade is currently the setting for X-Men Apocalypse and would be a good way to introduce his character. It's sort of a shame that fans might never see Gambit and Rogue play-out their romantic storyline in the films, but you never know with altered timelines and access to time-travel powers/time machines.

It's a given that X-Men producer and writer Simon Kinberg will likely get involved if/when the studio pursues the Gambit film. At the moment a script isn't in place and it's without a director, Tatum hasn't been officially announced by the studio either. Longtime producer Lauren Shuler Donner has been a bit more positive and told press Tatum was indeed playing Gambit. Even hinting the project could work with a lower budget than recent X-Men films. The only question is, will Fox be willing to fit the bill and greenlight it?

This isn't the first X-Men spin-off mentioned and even pitched to Fox, in the last couple of years. Spin-offs like Deadpool and X-Force have existing scripts, but haven't been given the go-ahead. We've seen Fantastic Four 2 and The Wolverine 2/Wolverine 3 get official release dates, without even completed outlines. This must be extremely frustrating to people like Tim Miller and Jeff Wadlow who have been patiently developing their projects for the studio.